Gummy Bear Light

I just can't get over this gummy bear portable night light I got. Had to share the cuteness :)

"Blind" Staging Project at 1070 Sheppard Ave

It's truly blogging catch up day... here's the most recent staging project I did (even though I didnt get to posting some projects before this one) at a condo at Sheppard and Allen Rd. It's a one bedroom plus den with two bathrooms.The goal was to bring light into a space that was otherwise very dark and dim. Here's the living room, accented with white and navy. This staging project was done without actually even looking at the space prior to bringing the furniture, since I was out of the country. There's a first for everything!

Most condos nowadays are built with an open concept in mind, so make sure there are some colours that are similar (not matching) from one space to another. In this case it's the tumbled marble backsplash and espresso cabinet colours, which are similar to the dining and living room furniture.

A view of the master bedroom with fresh yellow and gray accents.

Guest Bathroom Reno... Before & After

 Here are some before and after shots of the guest bathroom that I redesigned for my clients. You'll notice the "before" shot shows very dark tiles in the shower stall, floor and laminate countertops. The bathroom was painted one of my favourite colours "Wickham Gray HC-171" by Benjamin Moore to lighten up the space. It has a nice light blue tint to it, yet it still manages to stay warm. The clients liked the tile I picked for their master bathroom so much we used it here as well on the flooring as well as on the bathtub surround.

 Here's a comparison of the Before and After of the shower stall. Since this bathroom would be used mostly for bathing their kids, we installed a double shower head with a spray so they could be "hosed down". The wall tile is a 4" x 12" white glossy ceramic, with a black and gray marble 6" mosaic trim to tie into the new Ceasarstone countertops.
 
I totally love this quartz countertop. In person, it is a lot lighter, and is a beautiful slate gray.

Kitchen Refresh with Ceasarstone Countertops

Here's an example of how changing the countertops, hardware and backsplash in a kitchen can make a huge difference for half of what it would cost to do the whole thing. Since the cabinets were in good shape, it only made sense to do a little refresh job since they were spending most of their dollars on the bathroom renos upstairs.

Before the refresh job

I apologize that the picture is a little grainy (iPhone, fail), but the Ceasarstone countertops look amazing. I had the cutters make it larger than the previous countertop and the space looks so much more expansive. The gold hardware was taken out and replace with silver.

Master Bathroom Reno... We Freed the Toilet!

Just catching up on some late night blogging (and eventually... hopefully these photos will make their way into the website), and I wanted to share a master bathroom reno I did for a really lovely couple about a month ago.

Master Bathroom Before... The builder had framed in a very small shower according to the very small shower pan (floor). This was all gutted to make way for a very large shower- the home owner's most important request.

We installed a custom glass extra large shower, and kept the tub and vanity to save on the budget. Two bands of square glass were installed as well, which makes the room look even bigger.

As mentioned above, the vanity was kept (handles will be changed later), and we had custom Ceasarstone quartz countertops installed. Contact us to get your Ceasarstone countertops installed today! What an amazingly sleek look it has with the undermount sink.

A closeup look of the tile scheme we used (the trim tile chosen was a 1" x 1" square).

Last but not least I wanted to show a picture of the "freed toilet". The old toilet was literally boxed into its own little closet. Sure, it works at the Wynn Las Vegas where you practically get your own throne room, but here it was crammed into its own little closet. Alas the toilet has been set free!
Notice the detail of the tiled baseboards. I loved this tile - it's a taupe faux marble. It does a great job warming up the gray walls too (Stonington Gray HC-170) by Benjamin Moore.

Townhouse Project - Kitchen in White, Blues & Grays

Kitchen Before

 I know it's been a really long time since I posted, but i've been super busy (which is good!) I've been really blessed with projects back to back this year so I haven't had much time to collect photos (and my thoughts too... sometimes :) Anyway, back to the project. I had a lot of fun doing this house because it is the first house that my former roomate in university bought with her husband. After searching for a house and not finding what they wanted, they decided to buy a house with a good layout and hire us to create their dream house!Congratulations Ada & Garway!

We kept the same basic layout of the original kitchen, but we designed new white shaker style cabinets (complete with a new microwave shelf - a must have in any modern kitchen to maximize countertop space), added a chimney range hood and granite countertops. The whole entire first floor was painted one of my favourite shades of all time "Gray Cashmere (2138-60)" By Benjamin Moore . It's a great blue-gray shade that compliments kitchens and hallways very well (great for open concept) because it picks up the lights and darks in shadows and interprets them in gorgeous tones. Plus, we kept the flooring to keep the budget down, and the paint colour really helped to cool down the red tones.

The builder's original layout for the pantry wasn't very functional. What's up with the desk and the single pantry? I love how this double pantry turned out. These were custom built pantries look great (and even better in person- where the shaker doors are more obvious). There are more pictures to come for the rest of the house, but the project is still in progress... stay tuned!